Solid-state memory, such as flash, is currently in use in solid-state drives (SSD) to augment or replace conventional hard disk drives (HDD), writable CD (compact disk) or writable DVD (digital versatile disk) drives, collectively known as spinning media, and tape drives, for storage of large amounts of data. Flash and other solid-state memories have characteristics that differ from spinning media. Yet, many solid-state drives are designed to conform to hard disk drive standards for compatibility reasons, which makes it difficult to provide enhanced features or take advantage of unique aspects of flash and other solid-state memory. A newer type of flash memory, three dimensional (3D) NAND, has error behaviors that change over time but are not mitigated in hard disk drive or solid-state drive architectures. These error behaviors can result in inconsistent and error-prone reading of data, and early retirement of flash memory in the mistaken belief that the flash memory has degraded.
It is within this context that the embodiments arise.